Teacher testing pilot ‘over-subscribed’

Teachers are "flocking to participate” in the newly launched pilot of teacher literacy and numeracy testing, the Education Minister Christopher Pyne has said. In a statement issued on Friday, Pyne said the initial stage of the pilot testing regime – developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research and expected to become mandatory for all teaching graduates from 2017 – had been oversubscribed. Pyne said the initial allocation of 2500 test places for teaching students had been easily filled with an additional 1200 students nationally expressing an interest in taking part. Those who missed out on the initial round of testing have been placed on a waiting list for the second round of 25000 places due to undertake the testing in September. “This level of interest shows that teaching students are voting with their feet in support of the test being part of their university requirements and want to graduate having been given the best possible preparation for the classroom,” Mr Pyne said. “This measure, along with our root and branch reform of teacher training will mean in the future students will be graduating teaching from university ready to step into the classroom and teach.” Pyne said that the “mixed results” included in preliminary NAPLAN data released earlier this week had led experts to agree that teacher training was the key to lifting student outcomes and this has been a primary focus of the Coalition Government. “In Australia student outcomes have been sliding both in relative terms internationally and especially compared to our Asian neighbours, and in real terms compared to students only 10 years ago,” Pyne said. “Along with our reforms in teacher training, we have already begun the work of de-cluttering the primary curriculum so teachers have more time to focus on ensuring all students have foundation literacy and numeracy skills. Pre-service testing of teachers has previously been supported by stakeholders including the NSW Council of Deans of Education. Council president and head of UNSW’s school of education, professor Chris Davison, previously stated that a number of universities had trialled such testing already, with positive results. However, Pyne’s assertion that NAPLAN results indicated the need for a greater focus in teacher quality was not welcomed by all. Charles Sturt University School of Teacher Education senior lecturer Dr Jae Major said the test itself was to blame for the absence of any significant improvement in student results. “It can be easy to blame teachers for results but there is increasing evidence that high stakes, national standardised testing has little impact on achievement,” Major said this week. “[This] begs the question of why we are spending so much money on something that doesn’t enhance learning outcomes.”